The following are extracts from a letter sent by George Gibbs, dated "Fort Vose, on Port Townsend, W. T., Jan. 7, 1857," to James Swan.

George Gibbs, from the collections of the Washington State Historical Society.

hat the governor's treaties had a great deal to do in fomenting this war there is no doubt. Those on the Sound were too much hurried, and the reservations allowed them were insufficient; but his grand blunder was in bringing together the Nez Perces, Walla Wallas, Yakamas, and others into one council, and cramming a treaty down their throats in a hurry. Still, the treaties were only one item in the reasons for disaffection. Treaties had been made with the Willamette and Columbia River Indians, first by a board of commissioners, then by a superintendent, and none of them ratified, nor payments made under them. The Donation Law had very unjustly given to settlers the lands before the title was extinguished. The tribes whose country was occupied had visibly perished, and the bolder tribes of the prairies east of the mountains were determined that they would keep us out, at all events till they were paid. They saw that the troops were few, and scattered in distant and petty posts; that they were not mounted, and only one station in their country, which they could easily exterminate. The Sound Indians, encouraged by hope of support from the Yakamas, whom they feared themselves, thought that they, in like manner, could clear the Sound, and they came pretty near doing it. But for Captain Maloney's fortunate return, they probably would have raised all the tribes, taken the unguarded post at Steilacoom, supplied themselves with arms and ammunition, and whipped us out. It needed only one great success to have enabled them to do this. As to the conduct of the war on this side (that is, west of the Cascade range of mountains), it has been well managed. Captain Keyes and Colonel Casey, who succeeded him in command, acted with judgment and energy; but the war on the other side, directed by Colonel Wright, has been a perfect farce. He has proclaimed peace when it only exists because the whites have been driven from the country. He left his communications behind him unguarded, suffered the Cascades to be taken and burned, ran back, gave up an expedition on which he started, undertook another, sent back for more troops, and finally, at the head of eleven companies of regulars, after talking and feeding the hostiles on sugar and flour, marched back without taking a single one of the murderers, without killing an enemy in the field, without dictating terms, or doing any thing whatever to chastise or subdue those who were in arms. The result, is, that all communication by way of the Plains is abandoned; that other tribes, encouraged by the inefficiency of the troops, or, rather, of their commander, have joined; and that the Indians hold undisputed control over the country.

"Here the principal difficulty will arise from the non- fulfillment of the treaties with the friendly tribes. The treaty with the Nisquallies, &c., who took up arms, was the only one ratified, and of course they will receive their annuities; while the Lower Sound tribes, who have remained peaceable, and have been compelled to suffer great though necessary inconvenience, remain neglected. Whether the treaties are good or not, they ought to be ratified, or at least provision made by law to pay their annuities as promised.

"The conduct of the government has been most extraordinary. They have suffered a regular and a volunteer war to go on for a whole year, and have neither authorized nor stopped the latter. Governor Stevens and General Wool have been quarreling, and they have not decided in favor of either. In fact, the inaction or want of decision shown at Washington has been most culpable.

"I can not stop to correct the above, or add what may, perhaps, be necessary to give connection to the data. What I have meant to show was that the war sprung partly from ill- judged legislation, partly from previous unratified treaties, and partly from recent blunders. Much is due to the natural struggle between the hostile races for the sovereignty of the soil. The land is at the root of the war. Many outrages have been committed since it begun, it is true, but it was not private wrongs that led to it. The numerous outrages committed by Indians on whites have not been taken into account by those who bleat about the 'poor Indian.'"

Extracted from the Center for World Indigenous Studies website at http://www.cwis.org/fwdp/Americas/wwpugsnd.txt. The Gibbs letter is contained in a text document supporting a workshop developed and implemented by the Institute for the Development of Indian Law, Inc. of Washington, D.C., and written by Robert Brockstedt Lane and Barbara Lane.